Two-time Red Bull Air Race Champion Mike Mangold has been killed in a warbird crash in the USA.

Mangold was in an L-39 Albatross that crashed on take-off from an airport in Apple Valley, California, yesterday afternoon. He was 60. Mike has more Red Bull Air Race podium finishes and race wins than any other pilot; he was the 2005 and 2007 World Champion. He has won Gold, Sliver, and Bronze at the US National Aerobatic Championships. In 2002 Mike received the “L. Paul Soucy Award” for the highest scoring unlimited aerobatic pilot for the year.

After retiring from air race competition he continued to be closely associated with Red Bull Air Race as a commentator and as a pilot coach for the Challenger Cup.

Mangold was a talented pilot who began his aviation career in the US Air Force, flying F-4s and becoming the Outstanding Graduate of the ‘Top Gun’ Fighter Weapons School in 1983. In his later career, he flew Boeing 757 and 767 commercial jets for American Airlines.

Mangold leaves behind his wife Julie and two children Nick and Melissa.

Sources Wikipedia and Red Bull Air Race Championships

Picture Marcel van Leeuwen